By CORRESPONDENT

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Mchinji District Health Office (DHO) spokesperson Owen Chataika says the district is facing a leprosy scare as it has registered 30 cases between January and September this year.

In an interview on Saturday, he said the cases have been registered at Chipumi, Mkanda, Kaigwazanga, Kochilira, Ludzi, Chimwamkango, Tembwe, Guillime and Mchinji District Hospital.

Chataika said limited resources for conducting mobile clinics and contact tracing as well as lack of awareness about the disease are challenges affecting the DHO to contain the disease.

“As a district facility, we are trying our best to conduct research and carry out mobile clinics in addition to contact tracing, but these efforts are being hampered by lack of resources,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mchinji-based health rights activist Davis Damison said the surge in leprosy cases in the district is worrisome.

“I am concerned with the situation, both as a civil society network member and a health activist. We will soon mobilise resources to intervene where we can,” he said.

A concerned citizen at Mchinji Boma, Yakobo Potani, asked the DHO and other partners to conduct awareness campaign about the disease.

“We want people to know how the disease spreads and how it can be prevented. We do not want many people to catch the disease,” he said.

In 1994, Malawi attained the World Health Organisation leprosy elimination status after achieving a prevalence of fewer than one case per 10 000 people.

In recent years, the cases declined due to intensive awareness campaigns, improved healthcare services and advanced medicine.